


take these chances to turn it around

by VoidfishDuet



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Executive Dysfunction, Gen, also atem doesn't know how to deal with emotions and is probably on the autism spectrum, i might be projecting onto both of these characters at the same time lol, yugi has adhd and can't get out of bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoidfishDuet/pseuds/VoidfishDuet
Summary: Sometimes, Yugi can’t bring himself to get out of bed. This is something that the Spirit of the Puzzle can help with.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28





	take these chances to turn it around

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is based on the fact that I have adhd and I can't get out of bed sometimes, and I wish I had a spirit that could possess my body and go to school for me, and I'm projecting. Whoops.
> 
> The title is from the song "When It Rains" by Paramore. Yeah, I like emo music from the mid-2000s, what of it?

The Spirit didn’t exactly sleep, even when his counterpart drifted off for the night. He could feel when Yugi lost his grip on consciousness, represented by the light from his soul room dimming, but he himself could not manage that separation. He could meditate for brief periods, contemplating the maze inside the Puzzle or going over Duel Monsters strategies, and that would pass the time for a while, but he couldn’t fully lose himself the way Yugi could.

While the passage of time was somewhat strange inside the Puzzle, he knew that the period of time between when his partner fell asleep and when he woke up was generally consistent, especially when he had school in the morning. Today wasn’t much different, in that Yugi’s alarm went off at the time it normally did, and he could tell his partner had woken up. However, rather than shutting off after a few seconds, the alarm continued to blare. He could also feel waves of distress coming from Yugi over their bond; not the fear or anger he’d come to associate with Yugi needing his help, but a lower, more constant emotion.

When Yugi did not shut off his alarm after a few more moments, the Spirit decided that he needed to check on his partner. As far as he could tell, Yugi was not in danger, but what other reason would he have for not getting out of bed? 

The Spirit had gotten more used to projecting outside of the Puzzle as his and Yugi’s bond had grown, but it still felt strange to do so without being explicitly called. Still, he shoved down his hesitation; he had to make sure his partner was okay. Upon appearing in Yugi’s bedroom, he closed his eyes against the bright light. Well, the light wasn’t all that bright, just stray beams where the sun broke through Yugi’s blinds, but in the Puzzle, he didn’t “see” the same way he did while outside of it. In fact, all sensory input was dampened, and upon manifesting in the real world, he always had to take a few moments to adjust to the onslaught of stimuli.

Once his initial disorientation passed, the Spirit scanned the room, but he didn’t see anything out of order. Everything was as Yugi had left it upon going to sleep the night before. His homework was still on his desk, pushed to one side to accommodate his Duel Monsters cards; he had gotten a few booster packs, and started going over strategies with the Spirit once he got bored with math problems and English. The clothes he had been wearing the night before were strewn across the floor – his jewelry was meticulously hung up, so as not to get lost. But he didn’t see any sign of Yugi; at least, no sign that wasn’t a past indicator of Yugi’s presence. As the Spirit’s eyes fell on the bed, however, he could see a lump under the covers, with spiky hair sticking out onto the pillow. Yugi was still in bed after all.

“Yugi?” he asked, standing next to the bed and moving his hand to shake his partner’s shoulder; halfway there, he withdrew it, once he remembered that he wouldn’t be able to touch him. Yugi did not acknowledge his presence, not even a slight hunch of his shoulders. “Partner, are you alright?” he continued, slightly louder.

At that, Yugi groaned quietly, and flipped over in bed to face the Spirit. He looked awful; his eyes were puffy and red, with dark circles underneath, implying that he hadn’t gotten much sleep over the night. The Spirit was surprised he hadn’t noticed; he must have been deeper in thought than he initially believed.

“Hey, Other Me,” Yugi grumbled. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just – having trouble getting out of bed, I guess.” He sounded embarrassed, though the Spirit couldn’t figure out why. Maybe he was sick; while Yugi had never missed class for illness since he had solved the Puzzle, there had been times where Anzu or Jounouchi had been absent for a cold, and one notable time where Honda had to leave early due to what Yugi had called a “stomach bug”. Confident in his diagnosis, the Spirit made to sit next to Yugi on his bed – or, at least, hover over it in his best approximation of sitting.

“Are you ill?” he asked, trailing his phantom hand over Yugi’s hair, hoping that maybe his partner would appreciate his attempts at soothing him. It was a gesture he’d seen from Anzu, though one that did not come naturally to him. He could tell that, were he actually touching Yugi, his own skin would be crawling. “It is no shame if you are,” he continued, “the school will surely understand if you need to call in.”

The Spirit was not expecting Yugi to groan and flip back over, nor was he expecting him to start tugging at his hair in the same place where the Spirit had tried to touch him; but instead of a soothing gesture, Yugi seemed to be causing himself pain. The Spirit could do nothing but watch, increasingly unnerved by his partner’s reaction to what he had thought was a simple question.

After a few moments, though they felt like an eternity, Yugi let go of his hair, causing the Spirit to let out a sigh of relief. Not that he needed to breathe, exactly, but old habits die hard. “No, I’m not sick,” Yugi said, still facing the wall. “At least, I don’t have a cold or anything. I just –” He cut himself off, then, pulling the covers tighter around his shoulders.

“Take your time, partner,” the Spirit said. Though he wanted to approach Yugi, to provide him with comfort and support, he had a feeling that his partner wouldn’t appreciate it right now. Besides, his earlier attempt at “comfort” had made Yugi hurt himself; perhaps he shouldn’t meddle in the realm of emotion at all, but he couldn’t help it. They sat in silence for another minute, the Spirit feeling Yugi’s distress grow the entire time, though he could tell he was trying to suppress it.

It almost startled the Spirit when Yugi spoke. “I can’t stop thinking,” he muttered, curling into an even tighter ball. “I keep telling myself to get out of bed and turn off my alarm, over and over again, but my body won’t respond. No matter what, I’m still just laying here! And I’m so mad at myself, but that just makes it worse, cause then I get stuck thinking about how mad I am, instead of getting out of bed. It sucks, alright?” He breathed out loudly once he’d finished, and the Spirit could tell by the quiver in his shoulders that he was trying not to cry.

“That sounds…very difficult,” the Spirit said, after a pause. He was not what one would call “great” at dealing with the emotions of others. He knew how to protect Yugi when he was in danger, and when to take over for him during a difficult duel, but this was something altogether different. It felt like the first time Yugi had forcefully taken back control of their body, during their duel with Kaiba at Duelist Kingdom. At that time, all the Spirit knew how to do was win, to protect Yugi and to satisfy his own pride, but being forced out and confronted with the sheer force of Yugi’s emotions face-to-face for the first time had been…overwhelming, to say the least. Which meant that he didn’t manifest for a long time, trying to figure out how to deal with the emotions that had encroached upon his psyche from the human he was bound to. In hindsight, he felt guilty; while Yugi was struggling, watching Pegasus defeat Kaiba, he had been locked in his soul room, trying not to panic at the flood of feelings that he hadn’t felt in so long.

Right, the physical world. As soon as the Spirit tuned back in, Yugi let out a short laugh, and finally flipped back over to face him. His eyes were even redder than before, unshed tears glimmering in the corners. “You’re bad at comforting people, you know that?” he said, and it should have been insulting, but the Spirit was just pleased that Yugi’s voice was a little lighter. 

“I am still figuring it out,” the Spirit admitted, trying to give a reassuring smile. He wasn’t sure that he did it right, but Yugi smiled in return, so it was close enough. It didn’t last for very long, though, his face falling again as his watery gaze looked past the Spirit (or through him?) at the opposite wall. The Spirit frowned, thinking for a moment about what to do. Then, an idea struck him. “Why don’t I go to school for you today, Yugi?” 

It was perfect – something tangible he could do for his partner, something black and white, instead of trying to help with the muddy gray area that was the emotional realm. Though, judging by his confused expression, Yugi didn’t find the suggestion as intelligent as the Spirit. “Don’t joke around, Other Me. I’m just going to tell Grandpa that I’m sick and stay home; it’s what I always do when this happens.” After speaking, he frowned, and seemed to be working up the energy to get out of bed.

“Yugi, you have an algebra test today,” the Spirit replied, moving from his approximation of sitting on the bed to hovering upright next to it. “You know I am good at math, even if I don’t remember why.” 

Yugi groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. “I know, but…” He cut himself off, dragging the blanket up over his head. The Spirit missed seeing his partner’s face almost immediately; he knew he was bad at making prolonged eye contact, but he enjoyed looking into Yugi’s violet eyes, even if he had to avert his gaze after a few moments. Yugi’s next words were muffled by fabric, but the Spirit could still understand them: “Don’t make yourself uncomfortable just because I’m too lazy to get out of bed.”

“You are not lazy,” the Spirit said, frowning at his partner’s negativity. “Everyone needs help on occasion; you taught me that. When I am obviously struggling, but I’m too proud to ask for assistance, do you let me twist in the wind?” The spikes of Yugi’s hair moved from side to side; he assumed Yugi’s whole head was shaking, but he couldn’t see it, so he’d have to use the hair as an indicator. “Right, you help me anyway, even with things that others might deem trivial. Please, Yugi, let me do this for you. Let me help you.”

In the time that it took for Yugi to poke his head out of the covers, the alarm on the nightstand had decided it had rung enough, and shut itself off. Without the incessant noise, the Spirit found he could hear sounds from downstairs in the game shop; most likely Yugi’s grandfather, doing the opening chores. Before he could get too distracted, however, Yugi sat up fully in bed, the covers dropping to pool at his waist. His eyes were still red, but some of the spark that he had come to associate with his partner was present, and his lips were set in a firm line.

“Okay,” Yugi said, voice still hoarse. “You can go to school for me.” The Spirit lit up inside, but he didn’t respond, at a loss for words. His expression must have changed somehow, though, because Yugi broke into a smile, a real one. He was perceptive like that, able to tell what the Spirit was feeling without him having to explain it. Not for the first time, the Spirit wondered what he would do if he were bonded with anyone other than Yugi.

Reaching for the Puzzle from where it was slung around his headboard seemed to take a lot of energy for his partner, but eventually, he grabbed it, and stuck his head through the loop. Then, Yugi gave the Spirit a look, and gestured towards himself. 

Oh! That must mean he could take over. As unnatural as it seemed, switching places with his partner had become as natural as breathing – well, as natural as breathing while he occupied Yugi’s body. The Spirit simply closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he felt the weight of his eyelids as he peeled them apart. Looking around, he made eye contact with Yugi, now the incorporeal one, floating where he had been a few moments ago. Yugi gave him a tired smile, then vanished, likely to rest within his own soul room.

Now that Yugi was gone (though, not really – the Spirit could still feel his mind next to his own, like always), the Spirit allowed himself to fully express his joy. He jumped out of bed, flapping Yugi’s hands, smiling as wide as Yugi’s mouth could go, hugging himself tightly with Yugi’s arms. The wonders of having a physical form; how Yugi managed to keep himself from feeling pressure and motion all day, he couldn’t understand. “Thank you, partner,” he said aloud, and he could feel a faint pulse of heat from where his hand was brushing the Puzzle.

“Yugi, are you alright up there? You’re going to be late for school.” The voice of Yugi’s grandfather cut the Spirit’s celebration short. Indeed, the alarm clock that started this whole mess showed that he would need to be dressed and ready in five minutes if he was going to get to Domino High on time. With a brief moment of admiration for Yugi’s dedication, the Spirit spun around and threw open the wardrobe. He would not waste this chance to make his partner proud – and ace his algebra test, besides.


End file.
